{
  "entry_id": "TSP-ENT-000342",
  "slug": "midnight",
  "url_path": "/types-symbols/midnight/",
  "canonical_name": "Midnight",
  "entry_classifications": [
    "ORDINARY_DESCRIPTION",
    "PARABLE_IMAGE",
    "SYMBOL"
  ],
  "modules": [
    "PARABLES"
  ],
  "aliases": [],
  "legacy_present": true,
  "legacy_raw_wording_public": false,
  "senses": [
    {
      "sense_id": "TSP-SNS-000789",
      "label": "Midnight as literal temporal marker",
      "classification": "ORDINARY_DESCRIPTION",
      "definition": "Biblical midnight ordinarily identifies a time in the middle of the night.",
      "not_always": "Narrative or parabolic significance may attach to an event occurring at midnight, but the time word itself is not automatically symbolic.",
      "scope_note": "Narrative or parabolic significance may attach to an event occurring at midnight, but the time word itself is not automatically symbolic.",
      "claims": [
        {
          "claim_id": "TSP-CLM-000789",
          "statement": "Scripture uses midnight as an ordinary temporal marker—for example, the death of Egypt’s firstborn occurs at midnight—so the word itself does not carry an intrinsic end-of-age or new-beginning meaning.",
          "asserted_classifications": [
            "ORDINARY_DESCRIPTION"
          ],
          "type_kinds": [],
          "evidence_grade": 1,
          "grade_basis": "G1_EXPLICIT_BIBLICAL_INTERPRETATION",
          "status": "ESTABLISHED",
          "public_wording_class": "SCRIPTURE_EXPLICITLY_IDENTIFIES",
          "scope_limitation": "Treat midnight first as temporal setting; any further significance must come from the controlling passage.",
          "strongest_alternative_explanation": null,
          "residual_uncertainty": "No material residual uncertainty beyond the stated scope limitation.",
          "theological_intersections": [
            "OTHER"
          ],
          "scripture_references": [
            {
              "passage_ref_id": "TSP-PAS-001189",
              "osis_start": "Exod.12.29",
              "osis_end": null,
              "display_label": "Exodus 12:29",
              "versification_system": "ENGLISH_STANDARD"
            }
          ],
          "source_citations": [
            {
              "source_id": "TSP-SRC-000001",
              "author_editor": null,
              "title": "Canonical Scripture: MT/LXX/NA28 with NET/ESV comparison",
              "publication_data": "Text loci verified for TSP-S0F Batch 1",
              "locator": null,
              "verification_level": "V4_QUOTATION_VERIFIED",
              "source_function": [
                "CANONICAL_AUTHORITY",
                "TEXT_ESTABLISHMENT"
              ],
              "locator_targets": []
            }
          ],
          "s8_wording_provenance": null
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "sense_id": "TSP-SNS-000790",
      "label": "Midnight in the ten-virgins parable",
      "classification": "PARABLE_IMAGE",
      "definition": "Matthew 25:6 locates the bridegroom cry at midnight within the parable’s narrative sequence.",
      "not_always": "Jesus does not separately interpret midnight as the end of the age, a change of dispensation, or a new beginning; incidental-detail controls therefore apply.",
      "scope_note": "Jesus does not separately interpret midnight as the end of the age, a change of dispensation, or a new beginning; incidental-detail controls therefore apply.",
      "claims": [
        {
          "claim_id": "TSP-CLM-000790",
          "statement": "Matthew 25:6 places the bridegroom cry at midnight, but Jesus gives no interpretation assigning midnight itself the meaning “end of the age,” “change of time,” or “new beginning”; those equations exceed the parable’s explicit interpretation.",
          "asserted_classifications": [
            "PARABLE_IMAGE",
            "SYMBOL"
          ],
          "type_kinds": [],
          "evidence_grade": 7,
          "grade_basis": "G7_INSUFFICIENT_BIBLICAL_EVIDENCE",
          "status": "INSUFFICIENT_BIBLICAL_EVIDENCE",
          "public_wording_class": "INSUFFICIENT_BIBLICAL_EVIDENCE",
          "scope_limitation": "The parable supports vigilance and readiness for the bridegroom’s arrival; it does not authorize an independent symbolic code for the clock-time detail.",
          "strongest_alternative_explanation": null,
          "residual_uncertainty": "No material residual uncertainty beyond the stated scope limitation.",
          "theological_intersections": [
            "ESCHATOLOGY"
          ],
          "scripture_references": [
            {
              "passage_ref_id": "TSP-PAS-001190",
              "osis_start": "Matt.25.6",
              "osis_end": null,
              "display_label": "Matthew 25:6",
              "versification_system": "ENGLISH_STANDARD"
            }
          ],
          "source_citations": [
            {
              "source_id": "TSP-SRC-000001",
              "author_editor": null,
              "title": "Canonical Scripture: MT/LXX/NA28 with NET/ESV comparison",
              "publication_data": "Text loci verified for TSP-S0F Batch 1",
              "locator": null,
              "verification_level": "V4_QUOTATION_VERIFIED",
              "source_function": [
                "CANONICAL_AUTHORITY",
                "TEXT_ESTABLISHMENT"
              ],
              "locator_targets": []
            },
            {
              "source_id": "TSP-SRC-000254",
              "author_editor": "BibleHub lexical/verse reference",
              "title": "Matthew 25:6 midnight bridegroom cry",
              "publication_data": "Accessed/verified 2026-09-20",
              "locator": "https://biblehub.com/matthew/25-6.htm",
              "verification_level": "V3_CLAIM_VERIFIED",
              "source_function": [
                "TEXT_ESTABLISHMENT"
              ],
              "locator_targets": [
                {
                  "kind": "EXTERNAL_URL",
                  "target": "https://biblehub.com/matthew/25-6.htm"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "s8_wording_provenance": null
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lexeme_mappings": [],
  "canonical_relationships": [],
  "negative_guardrails": []
}